Caroline: you absolutely can do it again! i think the hot yoga will be great for you! it really helps me, but since the classes are a minimum of 1 hour every time, i can only really go once a week-- maybe twice a week because i really love my yoga instructor. the other class is on saturday morning, so if i'm here, i'll go. but, monday mornings are totally reserved for yoga. i think you'll find that yoga will help your running immensely! just take it easy before b2b!

Best of Luck in the Half Paul, it will be a great experience. Sounds like you are well prepared for it and should be fine. Start out slow and work your way into a nice pace and finish strong!! Enjoy the moment!!

Checking in after a while, seems everyone is doing great! I ran my first half on Sat, the temps suddenly hit 26ºC for the first time of the year, after several cold months, a lot of people collapsed in the last km:(. I had problems myself, despite my own water supplies and using water at the water stations. Finished in 2:03:37 (21,44 km total distance). Next on eis going to be under 2 hrs!

yoga is wonderful for stretching, strengthening (especially the upper body for me), breathing, and just overall feeling more in tune with your body, such as balancing. i do yoga every monday morning because my long run is usually on saturday or sunday. the one area that tightens for me is my achilles, which also means my calves, especially since i'm a "barefoot" runner. downward dogs help me loosen my achilles and calves-- i think it's better than rolling out your calves. there are poses that stretch out your hips and quads, so that's also good.

i think yoga helps me strengthen my upper body and core. my favorite kind of yoga is the vinyasa flow and anusura that includes vinyasa. you cannot get away with not doing chatarangas in vinyasa. chatarangas are a type of push-up, if you will, but the flow also makes you get into a plank pose, which totally helps strengthen your core. once you stay in the plank pose for about 30 seconds, then you do your chataranga, then go into a cobra or upward dog pose, which both strenghten your upper body and, especially, your arms. the flow makes this series of movements doable, so you're not just doing regular push-ups, which i absolutely hate! at the same time, you're really giving your arms and upper body a workout! if you also do inversions, such as a handstand, you have to work your upper body and core not only to get upside down but to stay upside down.

as for balancing, try a tree pose! that's a harder one of me! when you hold poses, you strengthen your muscles-- arms, legs, core, even your feet, etc. believe it or not, these poses and exercises make me feel more in tune w/my body, since you work so many different muscles, some of which you probably didn't know you had!

during all this, you are having to be in control of your breathing, which really helps w/the flow, getting into the pose, and staying in the pose. for me, the breathing also helps calm me down, and i think about it a lot when i'm running. when i run, i tend to breathe really hard, especially at the beginning, and get a sore throat. i guess, that's probably pretty normal. however, when i first started running, that was the one thing that made me hate running-- breathing too hard and getting a sore throat. i find that when i get into a steadiness and breathe in a more relaxed way, my running is easier and totally enjoyable. yoga forces you to breathe correctly because breathing is one major thing yoga focuses on.

one main psychological boost i get is that when i'm not ready to fully go with a certain pose, i don't. i just do it halfway but know that that pose will become easier one day. a great example for me is the basic chataranga flow. i used to get into the plank pose and lower down onto my mat very quickly because my arms were not that strong. in other words, i didn't have a lot of control as i moved from plank to the mat. after many downward dogs, my arms have become much stronger. now, i can go from plank down to the mat slowly and then get into my cobra pose in a much more controlled way. this started happening over the last three weeks, and my arms have totally felt that workout! my goal is to do an upward dog instead of a cobra pose. with the cobra, your lower body is still on the ground. with an upward dog, your arms are holding up your upper body AND your legs are a little off the ground, being held up by arms and core. this is so hard to explain, but if you watch a dog stretch, this totally makes sense! bottom line... when i can do an upward dog, i know that will give me a confidence boost because my muscles will have gradually gotten there.

Thanks Virginia for the information, I printed oout the article and will check it out! I belong to the local YMCA and they offer both Yoga and Pilates classes so I am checking on both of them. I am planning on doing a full marathon at the end of the year and want to get into the best shape possible for that venture. I know my balance is way off after I tried standing on one leg and felt like a drunk taking a sobriety test!! I may be joining a Spin class also to help build my endurance.

yoga or pilates would be great! i prefer yoga, though, because when you do even little jumps and land on your feet, i feel like i have to be as light as possible! so, yoga helps me think "light", which is good for my running, too. i haven't done pilates in a long time, but i think yoga is a natural balance for running, and the exercises you do are also balanced, i.e. if you do something on one side, you also do it on the other. i'd love your thoughts on the articles.

come out to ca and run it w/me! i'm only doing the half in november. there is a marathon, too, but i'm not ready for that yet. registration for the half opens on april 11, so i'm going to register early!

Lucie, that is an AWESOME time for your first Half!!! Congratulations!!!! When I first read your blog, I thought what the heck is she talking about people collapsing at 26 degrees and then noticed it was in celcius!! You can for sure get under 2 hrs. at a future race!! Keep on Running!!

I was able to do 6 miles today with very little soreness. Hope to do the same on Friday. I am keeping to the treadmill until I am 100%. If I can get to a track or the beach I will do that but I really need a level place to run right now. I have a three miler thats pretty level , maybe I will loop it twice.

I recently checked out a dvd from the library called "Yoga Unveiled " I really enjoyed it, so Chuck you might want to check it out. It gives a pretty complete history.

Good work everyone and thanks for the encouragement, I almost gave up.

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